I got sent some vouchers to try the bioglan superfoods range new in tesco for free, one in particular had to be used on the 100% raw organic cacao and the other was for £4.99 on any other product in the range, from the choices at that price I chose the chia + Flax seed product, which at 100g only half filled the package, it is worth noting that the £9.99 super-greens range doesn’t give double the quantity instead coming in at a lowly 70g compared to the 100g of product in those I chose, which definitely feels ridiculous and a hefty case of misleading packaging.
After getting the products themselves I have no problems with the actual products, they deliver what they state although the portion sizes it recommends seems rather ridiculous adding 2 teaspoons of cacao or chia+flax becomes rather overpowering very quickly, and at 1/10th of the product it uses it up very quickly. Instead I would recommend 1 teaspoon per use as an ideal flavour adding technique rather than overpowering your dish with whatever you’re adding.
I tried the cacao in a few different dishes, and found it rather bitter at the quantities stating needing some added sugar in equal quantities to make the food edible after use, but I can understand the health benefits being put across, a major problem I have however is that you can get 250g of cocoa powder from tesco for £1.99 not only 2.5X the quantity but also significantly less than half price, so essentially you could get around 6 times the quantity for the same price, of course there is the debate on wether cocoa or cacao are the same thing, the “organic” debate, when it’s an organic product itself, and the “added value” of a brand, I do not personally place much relevance on a brand when it comes to a food product, and you’ll get the same health benefits and taste for simply using the standard cocoa product.
When it comes to the flax this was very difficult to decide how to use, with it recommended to be used in smoothies and a few other products I would never use it in, as granular smoothies are really disgusting. Instead I used it as a coating to some burgers, which as it states itself as a vegan protein source could be considered sacrilege. However you think of it this made a very tasty coating, giving the burgers a good crisp surface and a nice added flavour combination behind the bite. Other uses I considered were adding it to some cereal, but with the nature of the product it would have to be with either wheetabix or a granola cereal of some sort so the seeds themselves do not just float and clump together in what could be a not very nice experience. The final option would be to add to a curry base, again this would cook away some of the “goodness” portrayed in eating the product raw but at least would make an edible product.
With the chia and flax seeds as well I think there are more convenient and cheaper sources of vegan protein also, which if you’re purchasing this as your mainstay the quantities of protein you would require would become a very expensive matter indeed if you were relying upon the bioglan range to be your entire source of protein, instead as a healthy person you would choose the other options in order to be able to survive and have money for other foods, rent and your bills, and would not purchase these products as a daily essential.
Personally I cannot find how these would become a mainstay of a healthy routine, and if you’re looking for the health benefits alone then there are other cheaper options for exactly the same benefits and same or if not very similar products, as especially you can get 1k of chia seeds for £9.99 immediately upon a simple google search, and a kilo of flax for £3.99 all organic, getting a grinder to powderize them would be a simple matter indeed. You would have to be a particular fan of the bioglan brand in order to wish to purchase these on a regular basis.
I have to wonder if the range is being introduced to tesco as the bioglan range itself is struggling to make money in this economy with other options for the same products being available far cheaper elsewhere, and this attempt to gain a new customer base would even work, what I can say is that when I went to purchase my 100g raw organic cacao all of the products on the shelves having their “anti tampering” seals opened would have prevented me from buying this as a regular customer, and it was only because I had the voucher and the requirement to try this that I purchased these, as with them open I would have never taken them even if I wanted to pay that price simply because anything could have happened to the products and anything could have been placed in the powder, or even scraped off the floor from a spillage back into the product or whatever else your mind can come to.
Personally I would not purchase any bioglan products instead opting for the cheaper alternatives of the same products, because again although they are good and tasty and have uses, and health benefits the price itself rules itself out of the market, on a compound scale 2k of chia+flax is £100, when you can get it for basically £15 on a lazy first search result online price which if you shopped around you could probably find even cheaper.